What makes a bow smooth?

[HumbleHunter]

Howdy all,
My question is why do some bows feel heavier or lighter then they actually are?

Like I have a 43# recurve and it feels WAY lighter then a buddy's 40# recurve. What makes the difference?

ALSO, I am fixing to start looking for a recurve bow to buy. I want something around the 50# mark. I have a 60# and it's just too much for my shoulder (I hurt it several years ago).

Who makes a smooth drawing, good fast shooting bow in that weight range? Thanks, HH

[Ray Hammond]

sandpaper.

sorry, couldn't resist.      

[vermonster13]

Design.

Black Swan
Shrew
Horne
RER
Black Widow
Border
ETC Etc

[Jwilliam]

Black Widow or Horne's Archery

[rbbhunt]

Sovereign Ballistik

[Kip]

Every Bob lee I have tried was super smooth compared to other bows I have owned or tried.Kip

[jonesy]

The limb design makes big diff.

[jonesy]

HIS QUESTION WASNT WHO MAKES THE BEST BOW IT WAS WHY. do some shoot smoother then others.Jonesy

[vermonster13]

Actually Jonesy at the bottom of his post he does ask for some bowyer's names.

[Kip]

I beg to differ look at his last sentence.Kip

[JL]

Design has a lot to do with it. length of bow is a factor. limb material is yet another. draw length, ect,ect. easy question, tough,long anwser.

There are a bunch of smooth drawing bows out there but that don't mean you will be able to shoot them well. Got to take em for a test drive,only way to tell if any one given bow will work for you.

JL

[Chris Lantz]

I think working limb length is a big factor, longer working limb = smoother draw.

[vermonster13]

Limb tapers, riser length, reflex/deflex, core material, length, mass, etc. Lots of things go into making a bow smooth, shock free, and quick.

[LBR]

Unless you put it on a scale and map out the DFC, "smooth" is a relative term.....and even if the curve is mapped, how much pre-load the limbs have will affect how the bow feels.

Lots of things can have an effect--limb design, limb length, limb material, etc. etc. etc.  No one thing determines it all.

Lots of bows these days have a good bit of pre-load on the limbs.  Carbon has an effect on this also, and of the few I've drawn only one (Turkey Creek) didn't start out very stiff.  That was one bow--maybe the exception.  A bow that has a lot of pre-load may feel heavier to draw.

There's a lot of great bows on the market, my favorite over-all being Chek-Mate.  Of the ones I've scaled, they gain 2 to 3 lbs per inch--depending on bow style, length, and draw weight.  My 66", 60@28 Crusader longbow gains 2.5# per inch.  It's one that most folks guess low on the draw weight--very smooth.

Chad

[Whip]

Some certainly do feel much better to draw than others, and as has been said, is related to the design and materials used.  But do check the actual draw weight on a scale - not all pull the weight that is marked!  I have a number of different bows, and some pull just as marked, some a pound or two under.  None are over.  And I have one that is a full 5# under the listed weight!  Of course, my scale might not be completely accurate, but it does repeat the same answer draw after draw.  And that doesn't explain why some seem to weigh different than others marked the same weight.

[jonesy]

OOPS!Stand to be corrected.As you were.Jonesy

[HumbleHunter]

WOW, thank you guys for the info. I really appreciate it.

Don't let my post stop anybody who might want to put a post on here, I'll keep my eye on it.

[Sid]

Most certainly limb design and limb/bow length. You can see that an early predraw limb is higher up the draw weight graph during the early part of the draw when it is easier to draw. The higher you climb in the early part of the draw for any given bow weight the less on the graph you have to pull to climb to get to the final draw weight and so the smoother it feels. That gradient is how hard it feels to draw the bow.

Some archers get mixed up with bow weight and stack and when they pull a bow 10lbs heavier than usual they remark the bow stacks when, no the bow is smooth but heavy.

The degree of stack is directly proportional to the size of the string to limb angle. Big reflexes on longbows and recurves make for high energy storage and that means high preloading during the draw. String angles are lower or longer/later in the draw sequence. The down side is that the greater the limb tip is in front of the limb itself, the level of reflex or recurve when braced the more sensitive the bow is to shoot until it becomes absoluely unstable. The trick is to make a stable limb with lots of pre-load, fast and accurate and most importantly stable/accurate defined as minimising variations in the archers technique and its affcet on arrow placement:)

There is an optimum point in and draw force curve to feel the bow smooth go past that and the bow most definately stacks.  Those archers shooting ultra short bows suffer badly from stack and worse of all finger pinch that provides painful knuckles and sore fingers and really poor accuracy especially when its the first arrow you have shot in a hour of hunting. Stack is something you get used to after a while and only when you shoot something smoother do you notice it.

The problems of stacking are purely down tp the geometry of the limb and it's working and has very little if anything to do with materlials in our experience

Hope that this helps.

Sid

[Orion]

Sid pretty much says it all.  I might add that, all other things being equal, bamboo makes for a somewhat smoother draw than hardwood limb core woods.